The Ceylon Electricity Board has placed an order with Siemens Energy to modernize and expand the medium-voltage distribution network of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo.

The order, worth around 31 million euros, includes expanding and modernizing a 33/11-kV transformer substation; the delivery, installation and commissioning of several medium-voltage power-supply installations; and the renovation of the 11-kV distribution network. A new load dispatching center for the capital is also to be constructed complete with control center. Siemens will also train technical personnel locally and ensure that the power supply is maintained while the network conversion project is implemented.

Colombo's power-supply system is being updated to meet the increasingly high standards required for the city's power supply. This will ensure that the more than 600,000 inhabitants living in the port city, which covers an area of more than 37 sq km (14 sq miles) on the west coast of Sri Lanka, will have a reliable supply of energy in the future, too.

As part of this network expansion project, Siemens is delivering 390 air-insulated medium-voltage switchgear panels, 40 compact stations, 30 ring main units, 72 low-voltage distribution panels, and medium- and low-voltage cables.

In addition, Siemens is modifying 175 distribution substations in the urban network to establish the necessary compatibility for a new system for controlling and monitoring the network and for data acquisition.

Siemens will apply its Sinaut Spectrum control system to the load-dispatching center. The equipment for the center includes telecontrol devices, which gather the data relevant for control purposes in 251 substations and pass it on to the control center, where the city's electrical power-supply network is displayed on screens for every operator or as optional on a video panel, including switchgear and their switching state and energy data.